Connecting with the Past
by MasterFirebender84
Summary: Avatar Korra is learning how to be more spiritual by training under Tenzin during her time in Republic City. Setting aside her Airbending training for the moment, Tenzin teaches Korra how to connect with the Spirit World. What or who will she find there?


Yep, another story for all my loyal fans. :D Whoo, man, was this a long one! But hey, that just adds to the awesomeness, am I right? ;) Anyways, please enjoy and review! :D

****DISCLAIMER:** **I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show and its characters belong to Mike and Bryan, the brillant geniuses behind one of the greatest cartoon shows in the history of cartoons. Their work is legendary, and I salute them for it. I also do not own The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra.

**Connecting with the Past**

"Where are we going, Master Tenzin?" excitedly asked Korra, eagerly staring at Tenzin's back as they walked around his home, a quaint building situated on Air Temple Island. The noon-time sun stood high in the sky, radiant beams of light breaking through the sparse cloud cover and blanketing the ground below with patches of both shadow and light. The sounds of laughing children echoed through the air like vibrant waves of joy: Bolin and Pabu were playing with Tenzin's children, Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo. Out on the porch of the house were Pema and Mako, the latter leaning against the house while the pregnant Pema swayed in her rocking chair, the two of them politely conversing with one another as the others played. Naga was sleeping just to the side of the porch.

"You'll see when we get there, Korra," patiently replied Tenzin, eliciting an annoyed groan from the teenage Avatar as she threw head backwards in exasperation. Chuckling to himself, he added, "For not knowing what I have in mind, you certainly are excited."

"But, Master Tenzin," said Korra as she pushed herself off of the ground with a brief burst of air, sailing over Tenzin and twisting around in mid-air, alighting just in front of him and making him stop, "I've learned so much about Airbending already." Brightly smiling, she cheerily added, "You even taught me how to use the Air Scooter!" Spreading apart her legs just slightly, she swirled a ball of air between her hands, making it grow as she bent backwards. Straightening again as she dropped the air ball, she jumped up and spun, landing with one foot perfectly balanced on it as she tucked her other leg close to her waist, crouching low and bringing her fists together. She cheerfully laughed as she rode around Tenzin a few times, making her Airbending Master tiredly sigh and close his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose in minute agitation.

"Spirits help me with this child…" Tenzin lowly muttered to himself as he rubbed his tense skin, thinking of how easily excitable Korra was when it came to Airbending. While the young Avatar was able to master the more physical aspects of Airbending, such as jumping on a burst of air, the Air Scooter, and even blasting storm-strength winds from her palms, she was still lacking in the bending art's spiritual side, such as meditation, how to stream air in a calm and soothing manner, and how to become one with the air, having it become second-nature to her instead of having to focus on it like she was now. While her Air Scooter was impressive, she was putting too much effort into conjuring it instead of letting it just simply _be_. "Try to contain yourself, Korra."

"Sorry, Master Tenzin," apologized Korra as she hopped off of her Air Scooter, letting the ball of air dissipate as she landed in front of Tenzin. She folded her arms behind her back and expectantly looked up at Tenzin with wide, puppy-like eyes and a slight quiver of her lower lip, as if she were feigning that she was about to cry. It was a simple, yet devious, little thing Korra had come up with whenever Tenzin was being annoyed by her. It was her own way of annoying him even more, a device simply known as…The Look.

Tenzin dropped his hand from his nose and opened his eyes only to find Korra giving him The Look. "Don't do that to me, Korra," he chastised with an irritated sigh.

"Do what, Master Tenzin?" innocently asked Korra, tilting her head slightly and increasing the quivering of her lip, trying to make her eyes as buggy as possible.

"You're giving me The Look," he tersely replied as he rubbed his temple, scrunching his eyebrows together as he felt a headache assail his mind. Even though Korra was the Avatar, she could be such a child at times. "You know I can't stand The Look."

"But that's why I like it so much," she playfully pouted.

Having had quite enough of Korra's antics, Tenzin sternly said, "Korra, if you care at all about what I'm about to show you, you'll stop giving me The Look." Opening one eye to see Korra's face return to normal, he sighed as he dropped his hand from his temple. "Now," he began, "what is the other reason you came to train with me?"

"To train myself in the spiritual side of bending," truthfully replied Korra. "I've been able to master the more physical side of Airbending, but I'm still lacking in its spiritual side. The same can be said for my Waterbending, Earthbending, and Firebending."

"Exactly," nodded Tenzin, "and that's why, today, I'm going to teach you how to be more spiritual."

Korra's went wide as she happily gasped; this was something she had been looking forward to just as much as her Airbending training. All of her teachers had told that while she was an excellent fighter and a prodigal user of the entirely physical fighting side of bending, she couldn't meditate or spiritually connect with any of her elements to save her life. "Really? What do you have in mind for me?"

"You'll see when we get there, Korra," replied Tenzin, repeating his earlier phrase, only this time with a knowing and teasing smirk as he walked around her, leaving her to gawk at his back.

The flabbergasted Avatar continued to gape at her master for a few moments before she came to her senses, scowling when she did so. "Oh, that is _totally_ not fair!" she protested as she ran to catch up to Tenzin, who was mirthfully chuckling at her expense. Sidling up alongside him and looking up at his face, she asked, "Can I at least have a hint as to what we're doing?" Tenzin's smirk merely grew as he ignored her, causing Korra to irritably glare at him. "I see," she said, seeing through his ruse. "This is revenge for The Look, isn't it?"

"Perhaps it is," he mischievously stated without looking down at her. Korra opened her mouth to say something, but Tenzin stopped her by saying, "Ah, here we are." Both of them stopped as Korra looked around, seeing that they were at the small stretch of woods that separated the house from the ivory tower. A small patch of grass separated the house from the woods, the only feature present being a stump that jutted out of the ground halfway between the house and the trees.

Korra looked around at the sight with confusion, not seeing anything of interest. "Um...I don't get it."

"In time," sagely replied Tenzin as he walked over to the stump, "you will." Korra watched as Tenzin sat himself down a few feet in front of the stump, dropping into a meditative position as he did so. The Airbending Master was silent for a minute or two as the Avatar perplexedly raised an eyebrow, wondering what in the world he was doing. Cracking one eye open as he looked back at his pupil, Tenzin asked, "Care to join me anytime soon, Korra?"

Korra blinked her surprise before slowly saying, "Uh…sure, I guess." She stood there for a little while longer as Tenzin returned to his meditations, awkwardly shifting her weight from side to side as she stood there, not knowing what it was that he wanted her to do. Finally, as she absent-mindedly played with a fireball in her hand, she asked, "Where do you want me to sit, exactly?"

"The stump will be fine," patiently replied Tenzin without opening his eyes, his large frame rising and falling peacefully as he inhaled and exhaled his birth element. Korra snuffed her flame and blasted air from her feet, jumping over Tenzin with a flip and landing gracefully on the stump. She turned around to face Tenzin, dropping down onto her rump and crossing her legs as she stared down at him, waiting for him to say something. After five minutes, and after much of Korra impatiently waddling on her stump, Tenzin opened his eyes and said, "You've come a long way since the South Pole, Korra. You've mastered the elements of Water, Earth, and Fire, and now you are training to master Air as well."

"Well, that's kinda the point of my Avatar journey," sarcastically said Korra with a roll of her eyes, snatching some moisture out of the air with her fingers and fiddling with the thin liquid stream through her Waterbending. Twirling the stream around her right index finger, she added, "I've been on the road for the past year for that very reason."

"If you would kindly stop playing with your water," said Tenzin, "we can get started on why we're currently sitting here." Uttering a peeved growl, Korra froze her little water stream into a miniature ice spear, tossing down it down at the ground and sharply impaling the soil with a crisp schink. Satisfied, Tenzin closed his eyes and said, "Good. Now, what is the purpose of the Avatar?"

Korra managed to resist the urge to scoff as she leaned her elbow against her knee, resting her chin in the palm of her hand as she replied in a bored tone, "To maintain the balance between the four nations and to master the four elements of Air, Water, Earth, and Fire." Deciding to take more an interest in the clouds than her boring master, she looked up at the puffy shapes as she tiredly said, "I already know this stuff, Master Tenzin. Why go over all the stuff that your mother told me the day I turned sixteen?"

"Because," firmly replied Tenzin as he opened his eyes, "you already seem to have forgotten one of the most important aspects of being the Avatar." Seeing Korra glance down at him with interested eyes, he added, "You are the physical embodiment of both the mortal world and the Avatar Spirit, Korra. Because of this, you are the bridge between our world and the Spirit World, the link that combines man with the forces of nature and the universe."

The pieces began to slowly fall into place in Korra's mind, her hand dropping back down to her lap and her back straightening as she realized what Tenzin was getting at, her heart racing and her eyes wide as she shockingly asked, "You mean…you mean you're going to teach me how to enter the Spirit World?" Tenzin's only response was a certain nod, leaving Korra completely breathless at the prospect of entering the Spirit World for the first time. Finally gathering herself, she nervously gulped and anxiously asked, "Can you really teach me how to do that?"

"I can teach you the technique for the meditation required to enter the Spirit World," replied Tenzin. "As for moving around the Spirit World itself, however, will be up to you. No living human besides the Avatar has ever entered the Spirit World. While my father taught me the proper way to enter the Spirit World so that I could teach you the same, only you have the actual power to do so."

"Seems a bit…dangerous," surmised Korra, feeling very much timid at the moment. Fighting against Pro-benders and Equalists was one thing. There, she was completely in her element (or elements, so to speak), able to hold off dozens of baddies at a time with her fierce fighting skills. The realm of the physical, she understood; the opposite could be said for the realm of the spiritual.

"It can be, yes," admitted Tenzin with a shrug, "and that is why you must beware the more treacherous parts of the Spirit World." His voice became grave and dark as he lowly said, "Be careful in the Spirit World, Korra. There are many malicious spirits there, beings who would love nothing more than to rip you apart limb-from-limb and devour your soul in everlasting despair. They have many forms, making it almost impossible to know whether or not they're friend or foe. The most dangerous of these spirits is far more ancient than the rest of them, a being so old and eternal that he remembers when the Ocean and Moon Spirits crossed over into our world, and holds a grudge against the Avatar even to this day."

"So…who is this big nasty?" apprehensively asked Korra, not knowing whether or not she wanted to hear the answer. "I mean, if he's got a grudge against me, I need to know who he is in case I bump into him."

"You would do best to avoid him, Korra," gravelly warned Tenzin. "Even my father was afraid of this spirit, and to this day I can't utter his name without feeling a shadow pass over me." Taking in a deep breath, the Master Airbender said, "His name is…Koh, the Face-Stealer."

Suddenly, Korra's vision went white, thunderous bolts of lightning-like energy passing through her body with searing speed, pulling her into a distant memory…

_She felt herself in another body, a strong, muscular frame of power and might. "Ummi!" she cried out, though it was not her voice; it was the gruff voice of a man. The woman named Ummi, dressed as a stunning bride in Northern Water Tribe attire, was pulled into the Spirit Oasis by something invisible and intangible. She jumped in after Ummi, propelling herself along with her Waterbending as she felt her being enter the Spirit World._

_Looking around the desolate wasteland, she found nothing but silence and emptiness, with Ummi nowhere to be found. She frantically ran to-and-fro, her booming voice forcefully shouting, "Ummi! Where are you? Ummi!"_

_"She is mine now, Avatar Kuruk," said a cold, menacing voice from the void around her. The voice was slick and threatening, a dark shadow that seemed to crawl into her skin and demanded that she surrender herself, her whole being, to its will. "Because of your arrogance in your duties, I have decided to punish you for your wrong-doings."_

_"But Ummi is innocent, Koh!" she protested in Kuruk's voice, which seemed to almost breaking at any moment but still retained its sense of anger and outright indignity at the Face Stealer's actions. "Release her at once," she demanded, "or else I'll destroy you!"_

_"It is already done, Avatar," intoned Koh with finality. "Ummi is mine forever, and you will live with the knowledge that you failed her, even when you had all the power in the world to save her. Where is your boasting now, Kuruk? Your arrogance is now your downfall, and you will suffer for it until the day you die." _

_"You foul-faced demon!" she screamed at the ethereal void around her. "I will never rest until I kill you and free my wife! Do you hear me, Koh? Even until my dying breath, I will never stop hunting you!"_

_"Then let the games begin," delightfully chuckled Koh. The Face-Stealer's presence seemed to vanish at that moment, lifting the oppressive atmosphere from her shoulders and leaving only emptiness and sorrow behind, intermingling emotions of despair with feelings of rage, hatred, and revenge. Korra felt herself detach from Kuruk's body as she felt him roar with brutal outrage, his spirit being pulled back into the mortal world, his eyes glowing a savage white._

"Ah!" Korra almost felt her heart give out as she slumped against her legs, her chest heaving with strained gulps of air and her eyes wide with shock and fear.

"Are you all right, Korra?" concernedly asked Tenzin, who had been immensely worried when Korra's body had suddenly stiffened at the mention of Koh's name.

As Korra began to recover, she slowly sat up, holding her head and gripping her hair as she dryly gulped down her bile and shakily said, "I-I saw something…a bride falling into the Spirit Oasis, me jumping in after her, pulling myself into the Spirit World, and Koh saying that…" Her voice failed her, tears of grief and desolation filling her eyes when she realized what she had seen: the death of a loved one from one of her past lives. "…That she was dead, and it was all because of me…"

"You must have been pulled into Avatar Kuruk's memories," explained Tenzin, relaxing now that the danger had passed. "Kuruk was the Water Tribe Avatar before you, having lived over four to five hundred years ago. His wife Ummi had her face stolen by Koh, as punishment for his arrogance in both his Avatar duties and his bending abilities." Seeing how shaken up Korra was because of her harrowing experience, Tenzin's face softened as he kindly said, "We can try this again tomorrow when you're feeling better."

"No," quickly protested Korra, hastily wiping away her tears, suppressing the sadness that she knew wasn't her own. She knew in her heart that Ummi's death hadn't been her fault, but she couldn't help but feel devastated along with Kuruk. Sitting back up straight and composing herself, Korra sucked in a ragged breath and said, "I'm good to go, Master Tenzin."

Knowing how stubborn the young Avatar was and how she wouldn't back down from her decision, Tenzin simply nodded and decidedly said, "Very well, then." Waiting a few moments for any sign of Korra wanting to back down, which weren't likely to appear, he sidled himself up and said, "In order to enter the Spirit World, you must detach your spirit from your body, letting it travel beyond the confines of our world and into the borders of the Spirit World."

"How do I do that?" asked Korra, still a little shaky from her vivid and horrific flashback.

"Let go of your worldly concerns for the time being," instructed Tenzin. "Entering the Spirit World requires a lot of energy on your part, and you must be entirely focused on the task at hand. My advice to you when you do separate from your body is to model your spiritual energy after the four elements: be free like Air, but cohesive like Water; rigid as Earth, but determined like Fire. Keep all of these things in mind when you enter the Spirit World, otherwise you will lose yourself to the cosmic energy that comprises the Spirit World."

"No pressure, right?" lightly asked Korra with a nervous laugh, squaring her shoulders at the thought of the task ahead.

"No pressure at all," smiled Tenzin, sharing the small joke between the two of them. "Now, the correct meditative posture is this." He brought his fists together so that the arrows on his hands faced each other, and Korra did the same as him. "Good," he nodded, closing his eyes, Korra closely following suit. "Just relax. Let yourself feel the energy of the universe flow around you. Let it seep into your skin, let it into your heart and soul. Become one with the thing that gives you power: your Avatar Spirit. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth."

Following Tenzin's instructions, Korra calmed herself down, feeling every tense, nervous, and anxious knot of sinuous, battle-hardened muscle in her body relax with ease. She felt a growing connection to the forest around her, a primal force that called to her, beckoned her to come frolic amongst the trees and animals. The sky seemed more open than ever before, endless as it sailed up to the stars and even beyond that to the edges of existence. All of nature seemed in harmony with her at the moment, the very elements calling her home.

Her breathing was quiet, shallow and transparent like the waking hours of the dawn…

Her heart was calm, life throbbing throughout her body with each vibrant, pulsating beat…

Her mind was tranquil, all worries and concerns that agitated her slowly draining out of her body and into the fertile soil…

Her energy culminated in the center of her being, welling up in the deepest part inside of her, a place so ancient and timeless she was surprised to see it there…

She opened her eyes, feeling the energy surge forth, and…

Nothing happened.

Korra blinked her confusion, still seeing Tenzin sit in front of her in his meditative pose. She glanced around: no weird glowing stuff, no strange little spirits that either wanted to be friends with her or just wanted to smash her, no surreal landscapes.

Nothing. It was still the same old Air Temple Island and the same old Master Airbender.

Pursing her lips a little, she let out an awkward sound as she stood up and stretched, saying, "Well, I guess it didn't work, Master Tenzin. Maybe we could try again tomorrow." To her surprise, Tenzin didn't a say a word in response to her. Feeling that Tenzin was just ignoring her again, Korra scowled at him as she hopped off her stump and crouched in front of him, saying, "Hey, Korra to Tenzin. Are you in there?" She reached out with a hand to doink him on the head arrow, but stopped herself as her eyes fell upon her hand…

It was blue and transparent, ghost-like against Tenzin's living flesh. "Ah!" she gasped as she jumped to her feet, staring down at her hands with astonished eyes. "What in the-" She looked down at the rest of her body, which as milky and vague as her hands, her tan skin now immaterial to all living things. She spun around and literally saw herself, her whole physical body, still sitting on the stump. Her body's eyes were glowing pure white, her entire being immobile to everything around it. "Okay, this is freaky…" Korra said to herself, still trying to cope with the fact that she was looking at herself from the outside.

"Korra!" The Avatar turned around to see Mako and Bolin walking towards them; well, Bolin was actually running towards them, an extremely panicked look on his face.

"Hey, Bolin, buddy, it's all cool," she placated with a warm smile, but Bolin, just like Tenzin, ignored her.

The Earthbender reached Korra's body's side and shook her shoulder as he worriedly shouted, "What's wrong, Korra? Why are your eyes glowing like that?"

"I'm right here, Bolin!" Korra screamed at him, glaring at him so that she could get his attention, though it didn't seem to work.

At that moment, Tenzin opened his eyes, pleasantly smiling as he said, "Ah, good. Korra's in the Spirit World."

Bolin stopped shaking Korra's body and snapped his head towards Tenzin, saying, "She's _what_?"

Mako sighed as he stopped next to Tenzin, adjusting his scarf as he said, "Bolin, Korra's the Avatar, remember? She serves as the link between our world and the Spirit World."

"Guys, I'm _right here_!" she snapped at them, jabbing her fingers into her chest as she glanced around at all of them. Much to Korra's annoyance, the three men still couldn't hear her.

"I was training Korra how to enter the Spirit World," explained Tenzin from his sitting position. Proudly beaming, he added, "It seems that she was indeed successful in crossing over."

"But where is she now?" Bolin asked, looking around for any tell-tale signs of the missing Avatar's spirit.

"All around us," replied Tenzin as he gestured to their surroundings. "She can walk unseen and unheard in our world, or she could fully cross over into the actual Spirit World and communicate with many nature spirits and even her past lives. She could even be standing in front of us right now, and we would never even know."

Just as Korra was about to say something (mostly to herself, that is), Mako just _had_ to open his mouth and say, "At least it'll shut her up for a while."

Korra incredulously gawked at the Firebender, shaking with livid rage as she screamed, "Okay, buster, that's it!" She jumped forward and proceeded to bust Mako's nose with her fist, but she sailed right through him like a wind through a meadow and tumbled out the other side of him. She stumbled to regain her footing, turning around to face the others when she did so. "Right, they don't know I'm here," she reminded herself, as much as it peeved her not to deck that jerk Firebender. Deciding to try something, she slyly smirked, shouting as she punched a fist forward in order to blast Mako with a fireball.

Nothing.

Her eyes went wide as she disbelievingly exclaimed, "What the-" Setting her jaw, she tried to jump using a burst of air, only to crash to the ground like a clumsy Chicken-Ox. Trying every bending move she could think of, Korra came to the horrible and unsettling truth: "I can't bend in the Spirit World." Before she could turn on Tenzin for not telling her something so vitally important, again ignoring the fact that they couldn't see her, she felt her view shift entirely.

_Suddenly, Korra found herself in the middle of a vast, verdant meadow, cheery-blossom petals lazily and elegantly falling through the air as noble and majestic mountains guarded the far horizon. There was a serene calm to the air around Korra, filling her with a peace she had never experienced before, as if she already knew that this place was safe from all dangers._

_Looking all around her, Korra couldn't help but be stunned and totally blown away by what she was seeing. She had never expected the Spirit World to be such a beautiful and awe-inspiring place; she considered herself lucky to have the privilege, and the honor, of being able to visit this almost dream-like land whenever she pleased. "Wow…" she barely breathed to herself, staring wide-eyed at the incredible spectacle before her._

_Just then, a giant lily bud sprouted out of the ground ten feet in front of her, making her yelp out of surprise and leap back a few feet. Warily eyeing the budding lily, which was startling white in color, as it slowly opened its petals, sinking back into the grass as the lily revealed its contents._

_Standing in place of the lily was a man in his mid-thirties, completely bald and adorned in the vibrant orange robes of a Master Airbender, a wooden medallion with an engraving of Airbending attached to a beaded necklace that hung around his neck and came to rest on his chest. He carried a staff in his right left hand, an old fashioned artifact that Korra had seen in old Air Nomad manuscripts that Tenzin kept in his house, which meant that the man was holding a glider staff. His hands were decorated with blue arrows, as was his entire bald head. He had a handsome face, matured by the things he had seen, and warm, gray eyes that made her feel safe and free._

_"Ah, you must be Korra," the man cheerily greeted, his voice full of perky optimism. Taking his hand off the glider staff, which stood perfectly straight up even when it wasn't being supported, he pressed his right fist against his open left palm and bowed, saying, "I'm Avatar Aang. It's an honor to finally meet you." As Aang came out of his bow and took hold of his staff again, Korra gave him a sidelong, weirded-out glance, eyeing him as if he were some sort of strange creature. Aang merrily chuckled as he cheekily asked, "Cat-Owl got your tongue, Korra?"_

_Korra pointed a shaky finger at Aang as she said the most intelligent thing her addled and befuddled mind could think of at the moment: "Um…you're dead."_

_"Am I?" laughed Aang, slapping his hand against his knee as if she had just told a riotous joke. "So _that's_ where I've been the last sixteen years!" Scratching his head, he let out another small laugh as he brightly said, "Can't believe I didn't figure that one out sooner!"_

_Korra gave him a vaguely creeped-out look, still thinking that the past Avatar was perhaps the strangest thing she had seen this past year, and that was saying a lot considering Mako's obsession with that stupid scarf of his. "And apparently you're insane too," she surmised, keeping a wide berth around the sprightly Airbender._

_Aang merely sighed and slapped a hand to his forehead as he said, "I was just kidding, Korra." Returning his hand to his side, he added, "Can't a past Avatar just have a little fun with his successor?"_

_"Depends on your definition of 'fun'," dryly replied Korra, deciding to walk towards Aang, closing the distance until there was only six feet between them. Sizing Aang up, Korra put her hands on her hips and said, "So, you're Avatar Aang, huh?"_

_"Indeed I am," nodded Aang with a wide smile. Gesturing to her, he added, "And you're Avatar Korra, my successor and the first Water Tribe Avatar in four-hundred and eighty-nine years."_

_Korra cupped her chin underneath her fingers, thoughtfully humming as she looked Aang over some more. "I gotta admit," she chuckled, "I was pretty good-looking in my past life."_

_"Oh, you're too much," bashfully said Aang as he rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly blushing as he did so. Korra was genuinely surprised to be in Aang's presence like this. She had expected someone who had a powerful presence to him and a commanding air of dominance; instead, he was an extremely friendly and personable young man, one who talked to her as if she were a long-time buddy rather than some student for him to teach._

_"I thought you were like, sixty-something years old when you died," said Korra, remembering all the stories her parents had told her when she was a small child of the heroic tales of Avatar Aang and his friends during the Hundred Year War._

_"Sixty-five, to be precise," pointed out Aang with a raised finger. "However, here in the Spirit World, I can choose my appearance. That's why I look to be about thirty-four rather than sixty-five, give or take a hundred years because of the iceberg."_

_"Point is," smirked Korra, "you're still dead."_

_"That I am," sighed Aang, though it wasn't a sad sigh; it was more of a I've-known-that-all-along-but-I'm-just-playing-along-with-you sigh. "So how is my wife?" he suddenly asked her, an expectant and hopeful look in his eyes._

_The question had completely soared over Korra's head, leading her to blink a few times out of confusion. "Excuse me?"_

_"How's Katara?" he asked, this time revising his question. "I know she was your Waterbending teacher and your travelling companion during most of your Avatar journey. Please, I need to know; how's my beloved Katara?" Korra was just about to ask why, if he already knew those things about Katara, he needed to know what her well-being was at the moment. But then, the thought occurred to Korra: he wanted to hear from her herself on the state of his wife rather than just viewing her from the Spirit World, hear from someone who had actually been around her as to know how she was doing. Plus, Aang's voice was so pleading and full of longing that Korra couldn't help but take pity on him, knowing how it must have killed him to be separated from Katara for such a long time._

_"Katara's doing fine," assured Korra with a gentle smile. "She's as healthy as ever and still smiling just like the first day I met her." Aang gladly smiled at the news, but Korra could still see the tell-tale traces of sadness and loneliness in his eyes, which gazed at the mountains as he turned his head to the right, his gray irises sparkling with fondness and reminiscence. Korra was silent as she watched him, wondering what was going on in his head._

_Finally, Aang softly asked, "Do you know how hard it is, Korra, to be separated from someone who had such a big impact on your life, made it what it was truly meant to be?"_

_"I can't say that I do," shrugged Korra, speaking truthfully and from the heart._

_Aang heavily sighed, his quivering eyes reflecting the unbearable burden on his heart as he mournfully said, "That's how I feel about being apart from Katara." Looking back at Korra, he said, "It's been sixteen years since I last held Katara in my arms. It was a week before my death, and we were sitting outside of our home in the South Pole, watching as the evening sun made the ice and snow sparkle so bright. I looked down at her and said, 'This is what we've been fighting for, Katara; this peace that we now find ourselves in, safely wrapped up in the arms of those we love.'"_

_"What did Katara say in return?" asked Korra, curious as to where Aang's story was going._

_A few broken tears leaked down Aang's smiling face as he shakily said, "She said, 'And it's been an incredible journey, my love, but I'm glad that you were by my side through it all.'." He stifled a sob as he wiped away his tears, all the memories of his unforgettable lifetime with Katara came rushing back into his mind, all that love and cherished joy he experienced with the love of his life. Korra had to fight to restrain her own tears, though her heart was aching with pain at seeing her past life so torn by the fact that the uncompromising grip of death kept him from Katara for so long. Gathering himself, Aang raggedly sighed and said, "Korra, I can't thank you enough for being Katara's friend. I'm certain that your company has helped her to heal a little from the grief of my passing."_

_"I know," sympathetically nodded Korra, "and she's told me how much she misses you. She can't wait for the day when she's finally reunited with you."_

_"That's a day I've looking forward to for sixteen years," heavily said Aang, his voice full of choked emotion. Placing a firmly strong hand on Korra's shoulder, he seriously said, "You've inherited a great legacy, Korra, and I'm honored that you are my successor. As brash, blunt, and hard-headed as you are, you have a good heart that knows right from wrong and is always willing to do the right thing, even when it goes against normal convention. If anyone can maintain the balance and harmony of the world that my friends and I have created, it's you and your friends."_

_"But what about the Equalists?" asked Korra, remembering the enemy she and the brothers had encountered in Republic City, nonbenders with the art of chi-blocking who were slowly rising up against the benders of the city. "What if I need your help?"_

_Aang assuredly smiled as he patted Korra on the shoulder and said, "I shall always be here if you ever need my help." Spreading his arms wide, he cheerfully added, "I wish you the best of luck in dealing the Equalists." Stepping back from her and bowing, he regally said, "Until we meet again, Avatar Korra, go in peace. I'll send you home." Before Korra could respond, she found herself engulfed by the cherry blossom petals, her spirit being forcefully sent back to the mortal world. "Be sure to give my love to Tenzin!" she could hear Aang call after her, his strong voice growing ever distant in the void…_

Korra blinked her eyes, finding herself lost in a sea of brownish-green. Blinking again, she found herself staring face-to-face with Bolin. "Gah!" she cried out, falling backwards off of the stump and landing flat on her back on the grass below. She rubbed the back of her head and hissed at the pain as Bolin hopped on the stump, staring down at her with a relieved and open-mouth excited smile.

"Korra, you're back!" he joyfully exclaimed. "I've been watching you for hours!"

"Hours?" groaned Korra as she sat up, wincing at the tender skin on her head from having hit the ground. "I was only gone a few-" Looking up, Korra stopped herself when she saw that the sky had been painted crimson and maroon, as if it were close to evening time. Glancing around at the clearing, Korra could see long shadows of the trees reaching towards the ivory tower, dark fingers that graced both bark and soil. Realizing that she had indeed been gone for a long time, Korra stood up and said, "Whoa…time sure does fly when I'm in the Spirit World."

"Indeed, Korra," said Tenzin from behind Bolin, having gotten up when Korra fell off of her stump. "Time here in our world and in the Spirit World aren't exactly the same. Ten minutes in the Spirit World may translate into five or six hours here. Sometimes the time may match up, such as a few minutes in the Spirit World being a few minutes here, but there is no way of telling for sure how the time will pass."

"So what did you see?" asked Mako from next to Tenzin, having walked over from his Firebending practice after hearing, and seeing, Korra's return to her body.

Korra spared herself a quick glare at Mako before she said, "I saw Avatar Aang, my predecessor."

"No way!" gasped Bolin, dropping down onto the stump so that he could sit cross-legged. "That's so cool! What did you guys do?"

"Well," began Korra, "we introduced ourselves at first, and then we got into a conversation about Katara, his former wife." Looking over at Tenzin, she softly said, "He really misses her, Tenzin. Even sixteen years after his death, he still thinks about her every day, hoping and waiting for the day when the two of them are reunited."

"I know it all too well," grimly replied Tenzin. "My mother really never was the same after my father died. She could still be the same loving, motherly figure that she was before, but there just seemed to be this…emptiness, a void that my father left behind as a result of his death. Sometimes, she would tell me how she wanted to fall asleep some nights and find herself in the Spirit World, never to awaken again in our world."

"They must have really loved each other," sadly said Bolin, his usual cheery-self dampened by all this talk of death and longings to reunite with those long gone.

"More than you can imagine, Bolin," honestly replied Tenzin, his voice heavy with past grief. He looked down at the ground, not noticing Korra walk up to him with a few tears in her sterling cyan eyes. Noticing her walk up to him, the Master Airbender looked up again. Mako moved off to the side as Korra stopped in front of her Airbending teacher, staring at him for a long moment with teary eyes before throwing herself at him in a mighty hug, embracing him as if he were her own child.

"I'm sorry, Tenzin," she mumbled against him, letting his robes soak up her tears. "Your father was a great man, and I'm sorry that he had to die because of me." She did indeed feel guilty about having separated both Tenzin and Katara from Aang; she knew that, in life, Aang was their entire world, and he had to die so that she could be born, leaving them with emptiness and sorrow while her own parents rejoiced at her birth.

Tenzin was surprised by Korra's apology, but he gratefully smiled as he hugged her back and said, "There's no need to apologize, Korra. My father knew his time with us was shorter than he would have liked, but he was ready the day he passed on into the Spirit World. He had no regrets about all that he had done with his life; he had lived it to the fullest with the friends and family he kept close to his heart."

Drawing out of their hug, Tenzin held Korra's face in his hands, the young Avatar sniffling as more tears streamed down her face, not caring if she looked vulnerable in front of her other male friends. Tenzin warmly smiled at her and wiped away the tears with his thumbs, just like he would do with his own children. "Aang sends you his love," said Korra, remembering what Aang had said to her before he had sent her back to the mortal world.

Tenzin could feel his heart ache at Korra's words, taking in a barely-controlled breath as he said, "Thank you, Korra, for telling me that." Master and student smiled at one another, feeling their bond grow with each passing moment.

Reminding herself that she had just one little thing to take care of, Korra brought herself out of Tenzin's grasp and faced Mako, saying, "I've got something for you too, Scarfboy." Bolin chuckled at Korra's nickname for his brother, who shot him a speedy scowl before looking back at Korra.

"Fine," sighed Mako as he rolled his eyes, "what is it?"

Korra allowed herself a smugly satisfied smirk as she mischievously said, "This." She heavily stomped her right foot, thrusting down at the ground with a clawed hand. Suddenly, the earth beneath Mako opened up, swallowing him up to his neck as he let out a surprised shout. Bolin's eyes went wide as his jaw dropped, gaping at what Korra had done to his brother.

Mako struggled against his earthen prison as Korra crouched down in front of his head. "What did you do that for?" he angrily demanded, looking quite comical with only his head sticking up out of the dirt.

"_That_," she said as she poked his forehead, making him growl at her, "is for saying that my Spirit World trip would shut me up for a while." Getting up, she looked back at Bolin and said, "And no helping Mako out, Bolin." Smirking down at Mako, she added, "Scarfboy needs to learn his manners before I let him go." Before Mako could yell at her, Korra jumped up on a large blast of air, sailing well over Tenzin's house to the other side.

Looking over at Bolin, Mako shouted, "Don't just stand there! Get me out of here!"

"Sorry, Mako," shrugged Bolin, hopping off of his stump. "No can do. I don't want to get on Korra's bad side like you have." Mako was about to scream at his brother some more to help him out, but at that moment, Pabu came up next to his head, happily purring as he jumped up into Mako's hair and nestled himself into the shaggy black hair. "Look on the bright side," quipped Bolin as he walked back towards the house. "At least Pabu can keep you company." Mako let out an irritated groan, deciding to just settle himself in and wait out his punishment.

All the while during this, Tenzin was chuckling to himself and shaking his head, quietly saying to himself, "You sure do have a strange way of picking them, Dad." Korra, while on many levels different from his father, still had that spark of mischief and cleverness that would make Aang proud. Tenzin could already tell that Korra and his father would become the best of spiritual friends, and he couldn't help but still feel pride well up in his chest as he sought to make Korra an Airbending master.


End file.
